Animosity
by CodeLyoko
Summary: The Riders had hoped no hostility would be present at a small party thrown together at the last minute. Although perhaps it was to be expected. Eiji and Shoutarou never thought it would have been between Fang and Anhk. What else could go wrong? Oh... The Imagins and Arm Monsters.


Drabbles just aren't my thing. This should have only been 1.5k words, yet it's spiraled into what you see before you. Originally it was only about Fang and Ankh at odds, with appearances with the Taros boys. But then I began to add other characters in this party and well… This is what it became. I blame my sister for some ideas that were added at the last minute, like Koutarou and Teddy appearing and a fleshing out of the tiny dragon vs merman fight at the end. This is why I should not have a clusterfuck of Riders and their lovely monsters at my fingertips, chaos happens. Enjoy the implied shipping and hidden shipping! (Bonus points for pointing out the hidden ones!)

* * *

Dinosaurs already left a bad taste in his mouth, which was why the Greeed was perching on the highest object - a tree – that he could find and intently glaring down at the object of his current aggravation. Said thing was staring straight back at him with intelligence that no inanimate object should carry, a feral kind that was more animal than anything else. What was worse was the fact that it stood between him and the thing he most desired; after all, once a Greeed, always a Greeed, even when revived with a brand new body…

Ice candy.

Except the very thing he desired was in an open ice box that was being guarded by that damn miniature dino! It was all too clear how this had come to be, although the bird Greeed would have denied it being his fault. If anything, it was that strange kid with the blank book. Fuming, the memory quickly replayed in his mind, serving to only heightening his annoyance.

"_It's fascinating Shoutarou! I've been reading about the Greeeds, and all of them have three different types of medals, which has led me to an interesting question. If Ankh is a bird Greeed, and his medals represent the hawk, peacock, and condor, then think of the interesting mating call he would make!" Philip's face radiated joy and excitement as he pointed to the blank book in front of him. Shoutarou placed a hand on his head, stumbling backwards in disbelief at what he just heard from his partner. Eiji didn't know how to respond to the sudden conversation change while the half-eaten ice candy fell from Ankh's hand as his eye twitched. Before he could attempt at swinging his fist at the kid, Philip quickly stepped in his direction, their faces now mere inches apart._

"_Would it be piercing like the hawk, since that's the one your consciousness resides in? Or perhaps the shriek of the peacock? But what of the con-" He was unable to finish when Ankh's Greeed arm gripped him by the shirt and lifted him up into the air, fury glowing in those dark eyes. If it wasn't for the fact that Ankh looked like he wanted to murder Philip, Eiji would have laughed at the obviously ruffled state Ankh was in._

"_Ankh!"_

"_Ah mou, Philip!"_

"_That is none of your business –" There was a flash of movement from his right, distracting him from the boy's oddly unfazed expression. With a metallic shriek, something small slammed into his arm, resulting in him both dropping Philip on the ground and stumbling back as he held his arm, ready to set whatever it was that dared attack him aflame… Until he heard the screech again and looked down to see a moving dino gadget that seemed eerily familiar to those annoying but useful candroids._

Ankh had no recollection of how long it had been since that incident, as his eyes had been glued to the sentient memory ever since. He was aware of Eiji and that detective standing close by, and the brat that dared to ask about his 'mating call' had calmed down from whatever else he had been searching and was sitting cross-legged on a chair and reading up something else. How one could read a simple blank book with no words was beyond him; he still didn't understand some humans. Meanwhile he was still stuck on the tree wanting nothing more than an ice candy to replace the one that had been wasting away on the ground.

"Tch…" he muttered, gripping the tree bark hard. Why didn't Eiji, the idiot, do something like shoo that thing away? Setting it aflame was not something he could do, considering that the three of the humans would have gotten on his case, as much as he would revel in seeing it melt into nothing. The snarl grew on his face.

"Don't mind him, he's always like this, sometimes even worse." The bright smile of Eiji's did nothing to dissuade the detective that was staring up at the bird Greeed with suspicion, waving off another Rider that was trying to get his partner to do another lookup. After what happened half an hour ago with the Greeed lookup, Shoutarou was not looking forward to any more obsession-laden lookup to end in even more trouble. Space, which was what Fourze – Gentaro, was it? Ah yes, the one who called them senpai! – wanted him to research. He didn't need Philip to suddenly start joining Gentaro in yelling 'space is awesome', especially if there was a dopant attack.

When did this party suddenly go from hanging out with fellow Riders – regardless of the various points in times they all came from - to the bird Greeed and Fang in a standoff, to the others wanting to try and play what is now known to them as the 'Let's all play make Philip do a Lookup Game'… Looking up at the Greeed one more time before he sat back down in the chair, Shoutarou was glad that he no longer was a simple floating arm. It took all he could muster to not shudder at the remembrance of the event. It was a floating hand that talked, how else was he supposed to react? Sure there were dopants, but they were actual people with full bodies, not some disembodied limb floating around who could talk.

"And exactly how worse can he be?"

"Well... His actions almost killed me a few times? He threw me off a building before in a bluff, among other things." Eiji tried to think back to how many times that nearly happened, leaving Shoutarou to stare at him wide eyed. The detective couldn't think of Phillip ever attempting to harm him, although the many times in which he became too involved with lookups and refusing to transform did come to mind. He sent a wary glance towards the Greeed.

"He's gotten better, trust me." Eiji once again flashed that smile, making it sound as if the outburst and actions from the bird Greeed were just a normal day occurrence. For him, sure, but to others…

"How long has it been since…?" Shoutarou trailed off as he waved his hand at Ankh, looking over as Eiji sat down next to him. There were three cups of what looked like coffee with icing sitting abandoned at their table. The only one who had attempted to drink such a thing had been Philip who had this strange puzzled expression. It was quiet for a few seconds, the colorfully dressed man's smile faltering for a few seconds as memories washed over him, even as a hand gripped the pocket where the broken Taka medal had once resided in. The detective was familiar with that look himself. He had dealt with losing his partner before, and the thought of never having him back had been painful, especially when he had found himself talking as if Philip was there listening, or if a dopant had been found and they had to transform. He touched the brim of his hat, letting the other collect himself.

"Five years, he's only been back for three months though." There was no explanation on what it took for him to bring him back, but Shoutarou wasn't about to pry. The way Eiji kept glancing back and forth between him and Ankh told him all he needed to know. It was similar to how he felt about when Philip came back that fateful day. He needed constant reassurance that he was there and not just a trick of the light or a daydream, not memories that continued to haunt him. Solid proof that the two were there and _real_.

"I can relate. I couldn't do anything without my partner here." With a fond smile and a softening of his eyes, he snatched his hat off of his head and plopped it down onto Philip's. The change in the bookworm's expression was easily noticed. Focused eyes became alert and fingers that had been running along the book's pages halted, drifting upwards to touch the brim of the fedora. Dark eyes darted over to Shoutarou as the other half of W ever so slightly smiled. It wasn't often that he parted from his favorite hat so willingly.

"How half-boiled of you, Shoutarou." Philip teased gently, not at all annoyed from being disturbed from his latest lookup. Although the Helheim Forest, and thus the Lock Seeds, that Gaim, or rather Kouta, had mentioned during the party was simply fascinating to read, he couldn't get enough of teasing his partner. Watching the exchange in amusement, Eiji found himself once more glancing back at Ankh, who was still intent on getting more ice candy yet not able to do so. It was obvious that his own partner noticed he was being watched by another pair of eyes and glared over at him, looking slightly more ruffled than before. With a 'tch' and a mumbling of 'useless fool', Ankh quickly looked away, only to peer back in Eiji's direction when he thought he wasn't looking.

"Oh!" Eiji quickly grabbed a paper bag that he had been carrying around. Philip looked up from his book once more at the sudden cry, perplexed as two pairs of rather bright underwear were brought out and handed to Shoutarou. The left half of W simply stared at them, holding them out as the colors nearly blinded him.

"They're tomorrow's underwear. I thought you two might need a pair of them." Shoutarou turned them this way and that, unable to form proper sentences. He had almost forgotten this guy's obsession with underwear, but these… He wouldn't be caught dead in them – and why is Philip suddenly looking at them like that with a huge _smile_?

"Ah mou!" Shoutarou groaned as he dropped the underwear on the table, covering his face with both hands. He knew that look too well, and knowing Philip, this next lookup would be one he would be roped into. He could just hear his partner now – 'Shoutarou, there are many different types of underwear, and I bought every single type there is so we could test them!'. Honestly, when would he develop the muster to flat out say no to Philip? Even after these few years, the genius became obsessed with anything and everything. Eiji was left looking between them as if he had missed something.

"This is not coffee." Twenty feet away from the three Riders, the last Wolfen stared at the strange coffee in front of him. Beside him was a red Imagin, one of the 'monsters' that helped another Rider. The red one had convinced him that this coffee was better than anything he had ever had before, but now that he looked at it, and smelled it… Minutes passed by as he stared down at it, ignoring how the girl who made it was looking at him, smiling brightly.

He leaned over, sniffing it carefully, but the sugar icing was blocking the coffee's scent. Hesitantly, he brought it up and sipped. The Wolfen instantly drew back, icing clinging to his drawn back lips, taste buds unable to determine what he had just ingested and secretly glad that this beverage was free, otherwise he wouldn't have paid for it. Naomi's expression dropped when it became obvious her coffee had not delighted this new customer.

"You don't know the flavor of amazing coffee if it hits you in the face, wolf breath." The red Imagin leaned close to him, leering at him as he slowly took a sip of his own red and blue iced coffee, ignoring how the icing clung to his mask too. Jiro leaned closer as he drew back his lips, canines flashing, while the Imagin cracked his knuckles, antsy for a fight to happen. It however was ruined when…

"Ahhh! You're ruining my coffee!" The sudden shriek of Naomi lamenting over the mayonnaise-infested coffee caused the man in front of her to jerk back, the cup of coffee tipping and splashing the bad-luck prone Ryoutarou, who winced at the warm coffee. Apparently his bad luck wasn't done with him yet, as the surprised Wolfen and Imagin near them also spilt their coffee on him as well. Peering up at everyone who began to stare at him, he let out a nervous laugh.

"This happens all the time." He said out loud, taking the towel that Naomi grabbed for him, who gave him an apologetic look before she threw another towel at the man who 'destroyed' her perfect coffee. Ryoutarou could only think, while he began mopping up the mess of coffee, mayonnaise, and icing, that it was lucky his grandson Koutarou wasn't there, who had claimed he wasn't particularly a 'party person'. He had a feeling if he was on one of his 'really bad luck' days, even Teddy would not have been able to prevent everything from befalling him. A sigh escaped his lips at that thought. He could just imagine it. Koutarou could have been twenty feet away and somehow a coffee mug would have been sent flying his way. One person with bad luck was enough, two was making it even dangerous, although, the young Rider couldn't help but wish to see him again. He was bound to get along with _one_ of the Riders here, right?

"Sorry, sorry! When Haruto mentioned your bad luck, I never thought it was this bad. But remember, a pinch is a chance!" Kousuke interrupted the other Rider's thoughts as he wiped away most of the mess from the other's jeans and shoes. Ryoutarou's brows furrowed in confusion. A pinch is a chance?

Pausing in the middle of showing his unicorn familiar to the quiet Wataru, Haruto stared owlishly at his Rider partner. Glancing over at his acquaintance, he apologized to the Fangire before he turned back to Kousuke. There was always one thing that worked like a charm when it came to tormenting the other. It was very amusing as well.

"Mayonnaise." The nickname caused the other Rider to turn around.

"Huh?"

"Bang."

"AH! Stop doing that!" Kousuke recovered from flinching from the 'imaginary gun' of Haruto's fingers. Satisfied with the reaction, the mage grabbed his plain sugar doughnut from the plate in front of him, watching as his Unicorn leaped from his palm to Wataru's. The half-Fangire Rider looked fascinated by the small creature as it hopped from one hand to the next, while Kivat and Tatsulot flew around with his Garuda familiar and some interesting falcon-shaped disc creatures.

An intense staring match between Kintaros and Riki had been going on for at least an hour before, similar to Ankh and Fang. Nothing else could catch their attention as they sat across a table from each other, obviously having recognizing each other from having traveled back in time so far with the incident with. A semi-abandoned game of chess had been between them, but after the first few moves, the game had been left alone in favor of the staring contest. What better way to test one's strength than to sit quietly and stare? Well, at least for the moment.

The loud rumbling of ZeroLiner's train whistle echoed throughout the area as the train descended from the sky and came to a stop. Many of the Riders would have not paid attention except for the fact that it had not only scorch marks, but carried the fragrance of something that had been burned… or melted, either way. Seeing the train, and relieved to see his partner respond to the party invitation after all, Ryoutarou slipped away from the coffee table, running over to the train just as Yuuto, covered almost head to toe in soot and smelling particularly singed, came stalking out of it, looking rather annoyed. The Rider stopped only to give him an aggravated look before pointing behind him at someone who had yet to exit the ZeroLiner.

"I swear, his luck is far worse than yours Nogami. Even his Imagin can't prevent my entire train from almost becoming engulfed in lava from a mere crack in the ground." He muttered before picking a table and sitting down at it. Ryoutarou looked concerned, listening to Deneb's quick and unhelpful explanation of picking up someone else for the party and passing through Hawaii on the way, and being given one of his Deneb candy, before the Imagin ran off to greet the other party guests. Well, he would have if not for Yuuto catching him by the midsection and slamming him into the ground and warning him not to ask the other Riders to be his 'friends'.

Wait, did Yuuto mention bad luck? The only one who had his level of bad luck was…

"Koutarou!" The Rider stared at his grandson when he stepped out of the train compartment, looking rather worse for wear, even worse than Yuuto. It wasn't only the ash, his clothes looked like they had nearly caught on fire. Teddy was trailing behind his contractor ever faithfully, attempting to continue to clean the heavy soot that covered him completely. Part of his face had been wiped clear of the ash already.

"Now I know why Grandfather told me to wear as little flammable clothing as I could today." Realizing that the soft mutter had been about him in the future, Ryoutarou had to bite back a chuckle. So in future he tried to prevent this from happening, yet it wouldn't work. Time really was disorienting at times. He raised a hand and waved at him when the future Rider caught sight of him.

"What?..." The future Rider was unable to finish his question, looking Ryoutarou over. Teddy had stopped his attempt of cleaning the soot from his contractor to examine the state of the other, who was covered in coffee and what looked like icing and…?

"Coffee, icing, and mayonnaise." Ryoutarou said, answering his grandson's unfinished question. He motioned over to where Momotaros and Kousuke were receiving new coffee cups from Naomi. At the last 'ingredient' in his unlucky mess, both the other Rider and Imagin looked rather confused at why it was anywhere near coffee. Well, at least he thought Teddy looked confused, with Imagins, it was always so hard to determine what mood they were in if they didn't verbally express it.

"I see I'm not the only one having bad luck today." The young male looked behind Koutarou at the ZeroLiner again. "So, lava?" The soot-covered Rider sighed and nodded, running his hand through his hair in an attempt to dislodge the particles, wrinkling his nose at the smell of burnt hair. The boy then changed the subject suddenly, as if remembering something he nearly forgot.

"Is there any cake?" Koutarou stared at Ryoutarou, who raised an eyebrow in bewilderment. No one, not even the Imagins, knew about him baking the big cake. The only ones who knew were Hana, Owner, and Naomi. He never could forget how hard it was to keep Ryuutaros from the kitchen while he made it. Thank goodness for Owner somehow managing to get a DDR machine onto the DenLiner to distract him. Who knew that he could keep up with the dragon's amazing breakdancing moves?

"I didn't bring it out of the DenLiner yet. How did you know?" Ryoutarou had lowered his voice, glancing around lest one of the Imagins caught word of it. Koutarou glanced around himself, wondering why exactly the younger version of his grandfather was being so secretive. It was just a cake after all.

"Grandfather, er, I mean… in the future, you asked if I could bring some back for you." Koutarou frowned slightly, annoyed with how awkward his request had come out as. God he would never get used to time travel, it was one thing to know your grandfather, but to talk to him when he was a young adult was still strange no matter how many times he went back to visit. His grandfather, well, in the future, supported this, knowing what would happen before it happened. He said it would help him grow in character and understand himself better. The other Rider smiled, understanding how confusing this was getting, but nodded. He motioned over to a table near where Owner was enjoying one of his rice plates with Hana, the latter engaged in a mini 'contest' with who would make the flag fall first. Apparently the Station Master had been requesting another competition.

"If you'll sit there, I can bring us some coffee. I'll bring the cake out later." Smiling, the bad-luck prone Rider walked off back to Naomi, sneaking another glance back to see Teddy resuming his actions to clean Koutarou off, even as the Rider half-heartedly pushed him away.

Having been wandering around, pulling almost every Rider into his secret handshake, Gentaro found himself peeking over Ryuutaros' shoulders in an attempt to figure out what he was drawing. Missing how agitated the Imagin looked at being alone, a big smile spread across his face as he saw the dragon riding a rocket into space. Instantly thinking that Ryuutaros was just as into space as he was, he opened his mouth, only for the childish Imagin to grumpily notice him.

"Don't look while I color!" the dragon whined, throwing the crayons he was using at the pompadour-headed boy. He tried to cover his drawings from view, failing with how many covered the table. Although he loved to show his creations off, if they weren't completed, he was rather possessive over who could see them. The boy only chuckled and pulled him into a strange handshake that Ryuutaros completely and utterly failed at.

"Hey we're friends though! I – Woah! Look, those two are lifting the dragon's foot like it weighs nothing!" Hibiki and Ibuki, two of the Oni 'Kamen Riders' that had arrived, were at their training sessions again and had decided, after consideration, to attempt to lift one of Castle Doran's feet to test their strength.

"I'm a dragon too." Ryuutaros quipped, childishly pouting when Gentaro ran over to the two Onis. He looked back down at his unfinished drawing and then to the crayons he had thrown. Clenching his fists, the Imagin slammed them on the table before plopping his upper half over it, bored. Now that the Fourze Rider was gone, he had no one he could bother… Or maybe…. Leaping up and sending several of his drawings scattering on the ground behind him, he raced over to where a certain bear Imagin was sitting.

"Bear-chan~" He sang out happily. Instantly Kintaros was brought out of the staring contest and glanced behind him. Looking back at Riki, who simply tilted his head in question, the bear went slack. A loud snoring echoed from his mouth, a clear sign he had fallen asleep. Ryuutaros skidded to a stop next to him and peered at him, ignoring the stoic human-monster-thing across from Kintaros. When the other Imagins weren't available, Kintaros always helped amuse him, so he wouldn't have fallen asleep to escape from that, right?... _Right?_

"Neh, Kintaros, wake up! I'm bored!" His poking and prodding went unnoticed as the narcoleptic bear continued to sleep, something which frustrated him. A bored Ryuutaros was never a good thing; he was rather destructive, showing so as he shoved the chess board off the table with an annoyed yell. Riki merely blinked, having a knight in his fingers, staring down at where the board used to lay before he placed the now cracked in half chess piece in front of Kintaros.

Huffing, Ryuutaros glared around in an attempt to have someone to play with, considering Naomi was too busy with her coffee to keep him company, and Momotaros was currently not available to pick on. He could spy Urataros walking over to where Owner and Hana were, Koutarou and Teddy were sitting by themselves – Why was he covered in soot and did they just get here? - and then there was Yuuto and his Imagin. His jaw clenched, glaring spitefully over at him before he crossed his arms over his chest. Since when did he arrive? Technically he could pick a fight with the Rider but… Then Deneb would try and make them become friends, and although he loved the samurai Imagin's cooking and candy, he would never stoop to being Yuuto's friend.

_Ever._

Was there no one he could mess around with? Even Ryoutarou couldn't come play, seeing as he was carrying some coffee, and the two Beat Riders he heard so much about were too busy talking with each other and various other Riders and couldn't dance with him! Before he could reach up and snap his fingers – his backup dancers always came when summoned – he noticed a small boy sitting on a table swinging his legs back and forth. Looking interested and recognizing him, Ryuutaros ran over there, his ever-present grin on his mask.

"Wai! You're the one I possessed before." The dragon rocked back onto his heels, looking at the boy with interest. Said boy stopped moving his legs and looked up at him, as if debating answering before he hopped off of the table. The memory of possessing him back when the Taros' had been sent back in time was all too clear. He opened his mouth before the dragon interrupted him as he remembered something.

"Haha, you're shorter than me!" All thoughts of hoping he could dance with him, or at least play a game, were forgotten as he skipped closer, measuring the boy's, Ramon's, height against his own. He puffed out his chest in victory, only to tilt his head to one side when the other suddenly… became all watery and green, almost like a sea monster.

"Neh, neh, who are you calling short, niisan?" It was easy to tell that the other looked smug now that they were more or less the same height. The frozen grin of the dragon's seemed to gleam wickedly. Oh yes, he definitely looked like he would be a great playmate! The other monster seemed to be thinking along the same lines, as Riki and Kintaros hadn't been keen on having him interfere with their duel of chess, and he hadn't been able to find someone else to play tricks on. Slowly his pupils began to form red crosshairs, something that Ryuutaros was interested in. Nothing like a little play fight to pass the time, after all, fighting would let out all the agitation of having nothing to do, and he didn't want to continue being bored. Dodging the pressurized water ball, he danced away, lunging to grab something that was underneath the table he had been sitting at before he chased after Ramon.

As the Imagin and Merman raced past the tree, trading blows with fists and a newly-acquired squeaky hammer, Ankh stiffened. In his continued staring contest with Fang, all he had seen of the other two were a blur of purple and green. His immediate thoughts went straight to Uva and Eiji's PuToTyra combo before he calmed down, seeing that it was just two of the annoying tagalong monsters of the other Riders. He made an annoyed sound, dodging to the right as an ice cube flew by his head. Skin shifted from flesh to armor, talons, and scales as he summoned his Greeed arm into view once again. Tiny flames were beginning to lick the air around his hand but quickly fizzled out when a stray pressurized water ball hit the ground near the ice chest.

Ice spilled everywhere, causing Fang to screech out in protest and leaping back to land on Shoutarou's shoulder, slightly startling the poor detective who had been trying to tune out Philip's explanation of underwear and how it came to be. The ice candy rained onto the ground, protected from the fall by their plastic coverings. Instantly the Greeed swooped down, grabbing as many as he could in one motion before he jumped back, right as the small sentient memory charged at the spot he had been in. Ankh swung his feet over the nearest table to perch on it, balancing his prizes in his lap as he unwrapped one, biting into its cold sweetness with relish. His lips twisted in what one could almost call a smile, eyes darting over to an even more annoyed Fang and waving his treat around like he had won the 'battle'.

Truly he was an opportunist.

"Ah, Ankh! You can't just take them all like that, I brought them for every-" Silencing the ever-so-useful fool was easy when he ran over in an attempt to take back the ice candy, he simply shoved one into Eiji's mouth, plastic wrapping and all. Ignoring the muffled protests as the latter pulled it out, he smirked up at him, biting into his now melting with renewed fervor. Eiji owed him for putting him through this 'Rider party', the least he could do was provide him with as much ice candy as he wanted. No mini-dino or human – nor whatever the others were – could take it away from him. He did still owe him around a few more months' worth in the end.

After all, a Greeed will always be a Greeed.

And his desire?

Ice candy, well… His smirk only increased as Eiji pursed his lips at him… At least among other things…


End file.
